Zheldara
Zheldara was born into a settlement of Shadar Kai on this plane, long separated from their people in the Shadowfell. She was placed into the general care of her people when both of her parents departed on a mission from which they never returned, confirmed as deceased in battle. She grew up among her people, knowing no specific caretaker and feeling little connection to her family. Such happenings are not uncommon in Shadar Kai society. She was trained to fight, given wide access to education, history, and put to work early. Given her peoples' dealings with the Netherese in centuries past, she was taught it alongside Common as a part of her education. Shadar Kai societies are meritocratic, where leadership and glory is achieved through ability, achievement, and talent. While Shadar Kai are undoubtedly competitive, with an expectation of and celebration for individual excellence -- the Shadar Kai also maintain a great sense of pride and loyalty to each other as a group. A worthy Shadar Kai works hard for their people, while seeking their own glory. Though Shadar Kai generally get along with other races, they view few as equals, with exceptions being made for other high-achieving warriors like Drow -- a race that also has roots in chaos and darkness. By her early teens, Zheldara was an apprentice to her settlement's tailor. Their relationship was not a warm one, but it was one of mutual respect. Zheldara was a hard worker, applying herself with utter dedication during her shifts, after which she would sometimes depart -- there was no accountability for what she did on her own time. She became extremely skilled over the next several years, often doing work on her own, with the tailor's support. Her free time would generally be left to reading, exercise, and wandering. She had few friends, having never found herself very drawn to others. Many Shadar Kai leave their people at adulthood. After all, this is a people whose focus on glory, achievement, is near-utter. And so, Zheldara did as well. At 16, she thanked those who had taught her, put her to work, trained her, and left to seek a life on her own. The next few years were left to exploring, taking on odd jobs where she could find them. While she had an exceptional knack for tailoring, it was not exactly a skill that lended itself to being on the road. Though her body was sculpted to the point that it could have been cut from marble, Zheldara had never excelled in shows of strength or hand to hand combat, despite sharing the love for battle that ran deep in the hearts of all Shadar Kai. Her body was a product of vanity, and her actual physical talents had always lended themselves to the more acrobatic. She could be exceptionally light on her feet, capable of great stealth. There was potential there for a life of espionage, thievery, but while Zheldara did not mind such things as a means to an end, she didn't want to make a career out of secrecy. However, she would on occasion fall in with various bands of mercenaries, putting her skills to use. She could sneak into situations, maneuvering out of danger easily, and gained welcome pocket money from fixing her companions armor between missions and skirmishes. As she got older, now in her twenties, she began to grow increasingly fascinated with magic. There had been some magic users in her settlement, some she crossed in her travels, and their choice to master something so chaotic, so dangerous, fascinated her. She began to look for it, for any information she could find, for ways to learn the skill. Eventually, her gaze turned inward, to the darkness from which she was shaped. All Shadar Kai were some degree of magical. They all shared the ability to step into the shadow from which they came, phasing into in-substantialness. Zheldara searched in the darkness, opened herself to it. Her companions found her even more withdrawn than before, no longer joining them in rounds of mead after fights, leaving the women and song behind (though Zheldara had never been a singer, she did well with women... they found her an exotic, beautiful stranger). Instead, she'd wander into the night, disappearing for hours. She threw herself into the meditation, the ritualized self-harm all Shadar Kai participate in. "I'm here, and I want to learn." she told the darkness. And after much blood, and much time, she felt the darkness inside her shift. She gave herself over to it. How had she never felt it before? The shadows that were just as fundamentally a part of her as her blood and bone. Never like this. There were no explicit conversations, no written instructions, but she could feel what the shadows wanted as deeply as her own instincts. She stretched out her hand, and tendrils of darkness unfurled. She threw them a nearby tree branch, they curled around the branch, splitting the bark. She pulled the branch from the tree. She sighed, and pulled the whip back within herself. She wanted power, she wanted so much power. She felt the darkness within her, behind her, pulse... what would she give in return? "Anything." she sighed. She remembered the first time she killed with magic, snapping the neck of a guard who had stood between her and a jailed companion. The darkness seemed pleased. One day, she and her group found a... thing... in a mine they'd been sacking. It couldn't be called human, it was this twisted figure over whom shadows moved. Hands turned into claws. It fell on her before she knew what was happening. Her arms were pinned, she sunk her teeth into its neck, digging for the ropes of veins and pulling them apart. Foul tasting blood poured into her mouth and the creature screamed. She kicked if off of her, unfurling her whip and wrapping it around the creature's throat. She scrambled on the ground, placing her feet on the thing's shoulder's and pulling with all of her might. She yelled out in a rush of emotion, feeling the spine crack. The rest of the mission went standardly, but in the next few days, Zheldara began to change. It was evident that it was from the creature, though neither she or her companions knew what was happening to her. It had also been the first time this group had seen her use magic, though there had certainly been suspicions. Soon, Zheldara found herself alone once more. She packed up her things and began to search for answers. The Affliction. ''In the wrong place she'd be killed on sight for it, and living openly as a Shadar Kai had already been a risky move. After time, and searching, she found her way to Frostmoor, where a settlement was maintained. Her appearance as a Shadar Kai: grey skin, white hair, black eyes, simply confirmed the disease she suffered in the eyes of the townspeople. She was just a human who was very far along. The town had no official tailor, and she found herself turning to old skills as she set up a shop. Sometimes Zheldara was horrified that she had essentially settled into a life of domesticity, but did not resign herself to this, knowing that she was biding her time for greater things. She wanted to understand this ailment, and in the meantime, dedicated herself to strengthening her ties to the more powerful members of the town. She hid her magic utterly. No books, no open practicing. Merely her regimen of pain, exercise, meditation, and her work. She arrived in Frostmoor at 25. 7 years passed this way. She had no friends in the town, but no enemies. The work was regular, the food was dull. She was bored, but Zheldara, if anything, knew discipline. The Events Thus Far Zheldara was going about what had become a dull routine of work, keeping food on her table, money in her pocket, safe enough in Frostmoor's disgusting mundanity. As the townsfolks' idiotic fear of magic claimed the lives of innocents, or perhaps guilty parties needlessly prosecuted in the first place, she kept her head down. But then death reached the nobility, and everyone suffered. The Bokurai grew increasingly suspicious. The girl, Stelmaria, and her meddling became more visible, and Zheldara tried to get a sense of what was going on. Darkness forbid she keep her head so far down that she not see the swing of circumstance and lose it in cowardice. ---- One of the Bokurai grows increasingly reckless. The conflicting forces of the town come to a head. A town hall is called. Zheldara speaks to the mayor, attempts to contribute to order, and is told to sit. Is talked to like she's beneath this de facto leader. This stinking, afflicted, bloated little prince of a useless little hamlet on the edge of nothing talks to her like she is beneath him and anger spikes through her. But then chaos breaks out. In the fight, Zheldara turns her weapon on Callynx, hoping to spill his blood across the floorboards. To bleed out every pestilent little drop of hubris. She expects the Bokurai to win, and she intends to survive among the victors. And then the tide of the battle changes, and they begin to lose. She watches one of the townspeople call lighting on the others, confused by what is happening, Aeryn is fighting alongside them. What is going on. But then the Watch enters, and all are arrested. ---- Zheldara finds herself imprisoned, alongside the magic user. She is disdainful. The power is something to behold... but the carelessness, the lack of control is something she cannot accept. In conversation, she rebuffs them. They should be put in their place. They're taken to be tortured. All for the better, considering that Zheldara would have been rather unresponsive. Lovelace speaks to her, and she speaks truthfully, in a way. A logical extension of her actions. The Bokurai were known allies. Naturally Callynx must have been acting against the interests of the Watch. Of course. Lovelace conscripts her, she agrees freely. She is curious as to what is going on, but this path also seems to be the way she keeps her head above water. They go to trial and she speaks out against Adorenna, a magic user who cut down swaths of their peers ''by accident? If a prize steer kills multiple farmhands, you don't keep it around because it's a very strong animal. Uncontrolled magic, to that degree, was dangerous to all. And even if Zheldara didn't feel that way, she knows her required role in this. She knows that this is her way to survival and freedom. But then it all goes to shit, Adorenna reveals herself as a changeling... how had a member of the fey wandered into this... and darkness falls upon the court. The handiwork of a Drow. Doctor John... was a fucking Drow? Here? Things were getting more and more interesting. -------------- In the tunnels, Zheldara is smug about a boost in agency, for once. But things begin to fall apart quickly as they find bodies. The prisoners are freed. Below the town, Zheldara finds a book and is transfixed by it. She takes it with her. There is a thing in the tunnels. They manage to escape it, with difficulty, and find some mage and his assistant. The merchant, Aeryn, full of needless heroics and constant bickering, and the fey, Adorenna, a dead woman walking, both seem to have some sort of affinity with him, and when Tirelde steps in to arrest the man, they turn on him. But Vendrix's news... of a thing of darkness that is slaying justicars, shows that there are more pressing matters. ---- Intrigue and new threats are revealed through discussion with Vendrix. Aeryn is strangely secretive. In the home, the group encounters Amelie. They avoid a threat. Amelie is revealed to be a doppelganger and attacks Tirelde. Aeryn and Adorenna seek to abandon him. Zheldara and Vale... Zheldara knowing it will mean death for all of them... work to save him. ---- Thankfully, they were able to save the Justicar. No thanks to the half-elf and fey, of course. Aeryn continues to bicker with her, irritating Zheldara, and the compulsion of the book becomes too strong -- overriding her willpower and forcing her to attack the woman. She makes it count. But in doing so, she's revealed herself as a magic user. And then the simpering, tedious distrust. Because practicing openly in a town that forbids it is somehow less suspect. Idiots. So, she's locked away. Because they think they can hold her. She's weighing her options when the book contacts her again. A portal into another world. A world she had only heard about in stories as a youth, The Shadowsea. She meets Sacrosangre, a Netherese nobleman. Of course she would recognize him as such, she was taught the language alongside Common as a toddler until her schooling finished. He offers her hospitality, information. Zheldara happily acquiesces. Power. Power that will help her, for a price. She returns to Frostmoor with information, a mission. ---- Frostmoor is in chaos. She finds Momotaro. Convinces him of her plan. Of a device that must be enabled. As they are in the process of doing so (it requires multiple switches across the town), they are ambushed by one of the agents. So, she lies. They're on the same side, after all. She tells him where to find Tirelde and Vendrix, hoping it will buy her and Momotaro time. He leaves. She activates the device and triggers a huge explosion. For moments, she is shocked. It wasn't what she'd expected would happen. But, who was she to question it. And, it... it certainly took care of the issue. ---- When she returns to Arthur and Tirelde, she finds the bodies of Arthur and... Latrec? Tirelde and Selena both missing. They find nothing, save some bloody footprints outside of the inn. At a loss for what to do, Zheldara and Momotaro wait. ---- (directly pulling here from the synopsis) Zheldara and Momotaro made their way to the city watch as Zheldara intuited that there may be a link to the Shadowsea from beneath the Watch (they had perhaps stumbled upon it before). Zheldara tried to force their way in much to the frustration of the gaurds who immediately arrested them. They were able to escape their cell and found the hidden tunnels beneath the keep. This led them to a secret laboratory beneath the keep which housed a shadowgate. There were signs of tortured prisoners there including the Callas sisters who had run the inn and had protected Adorena. There they were ambushed by Marcus Callynx now in shadow form. He gave Zheldara a choice to follow him or Sacresangre. His intention was to purge Frostmoor claiming that it was corrupted by the Phaerimm. He claimed destroying it was the only way to ensure the protection of the Shadowsea. Zheldara refused and destroyed the shadowgate but proved no match for Callynx in combat. She was overcome and taken prison, Momotaro disappeared into the shadows and escaped. ---- She is found by Momotaro, after some time. The Agent had tried to convince her to join in his cause and had... taken some part of her, in the process.